having the head. And we find
that in these modern days, Egyptians, Copts, Turks, Arabs, Hindoos, and
Chinese, all shave the head. But there is one great exception to this
rule. A barber would find no work in a purely Jewish city, for not only
do the Jews wear beards, but they also never shave their heads as their
Eastern neighbours do. The only ones amongst the Jews who were allowed
to have shaven heads were the poor outcast lepers. Hence the shaven head
was to them a sign or symbol of uncleanness and of excommunication. They
looked upon a man with a bald head very much as we look upon one whose
hair is cropped very suspiciously close, and whom we therefore imagine
must have been in gaol.

Thus it came to pass that 'Bald-head' became a common term of reproach
and insult. Elisha, the holy prophet, goes up the hill, wearing a thick
turban to protect his head from the sun. Out come a troop of wicked,
mocking children. Elisha is not bald, for he is a Jew, nor, even if he
had been bald, could these children have seen it, since his head is
covered; but they wish to annoy and to insult the holy man, so they cry
after him,

'Go up, thou bald head, go up.'

They simply use a common term of reproach. To have a bald head was
amongst the Jews a sign that a man was cut off from his nation, that he
was counted as a Gentile and an outsider, and therefore to call a man 'a
bald head' was equivalent to calling him a Gentile dog and an outcast.

Now Nehemiah inflicts this very punishment on these Jews who have
married heathen wives. He commands them to be made bald, as a sign of
shame and disgrace. It was a very significant and appropriate
punishment. They had thrown in their lot with the heathen Gentiles, let
them then become Gentiles, let them be branded with their mark, let
them, by being made bald, be stamped as those who are no longer citizens
of Jerusalem, but who have become outcasts and foreigners.

Then, when this was done, Nehemiah calls them to him, and makes them
take a solemn oath before God, that from that time forth they will never
fall into the same sin again:

'I made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto
their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.'

Then he reminds them how dreadful the consequences of the same sin had
been to no less a person than their great and glorious King Solomon, the
wisest of men, the beloved of his God. Even Solomon had been drawn asi